Belluno represents the core of the vast mountaneous region stretching from Trentino-Alto Adige/ Südtirol, Austria and Friuli, and crossed by the river Piave and its tributaries.
Founded by the Paleovenetians it became a Roman municipality in the 2nd century B.C. and saw extensive urban development still visible today on the town's main axis. Its name dates back to Celtic occupation, however: belo-dunum, signifying 'resplendent city'. With the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire it became subject to the Longobards in the 4th century
and Franks in the 8th, finally becoming a dominion of the bishopric in the 900s. Fought over by rival families, from 1404 it willingly became a possession of Venice, quickly enhancing its medieval appearance with many Gothic-Renaissance palazzi so typical of the Venetian Republic. Such edifices such as Palazzo dei Rettori are scattered throughout the Old Town, a wonderfully evocative location atop a rocky outcrop at the junction of the rivers Piave and Ardo. Unmissable for the visitor are the church of S. Stefano and the Duomo of Tulio Lombardo, built at the beginning of the 16th century and replete with a 69m high belltower designed by Filippo Juvara and considered one of the most representative clocktowers of the Baroque period in Italy. The Duomo also houses works by Jacopo Bassano, Palma il Giovane and Andrea Brustolon, the famous sculptor and engraver of Belluno. At the Museo Civico it is possible to admire works of Jacopo da Montagna, Bartolomeo Montagna, Andrea Brustolon, Andrea Solario, Fra Galgario, Sebastiano Ricci and his nephew Marco Ricci, and Fra Galgario.
Magic passageway through the surrounding plains
and mountains of the Dolomites